Inhuman
by kyxshi
Summary: The grisly occurrence at the Tucker house sparks memories of Mustang and Hughes's even more gruesome past. *Note: Originally published on my Tumblr


The phone rang. Roy put down his pen and answered it.

"This is Colonel Mustang," he said.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes is on the line for you, sir," the operator's unassuming voice informed him.

Roy pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Alright," he said. "Put him through."

Moments later, Hughes half-shouted a greeting.

"Good morning, Colonel!"

"What do you want, Hughes?"

"Little Elicia's birthday is coming up and I have some party plans to discuss with you!"

"I thought I told you to quit making personal phone calls on the military line."

"I can't very well call about her birthday from home, can I? I want it to be a surprise!"

"She's three. I'm sure you can fool her."

"Oh, why do you have to be such a stiff?"

"Is this all you wanted to talk to me about, Hughes? I've got a lot of work to do." Roy looked at the stack of paperwork he'd procrastinated. It'd been bigger before he'd split up a chunk of it amongst his subordinates. The five of them were working at a shared desk, each with varying degrees of displeasure on their faces. Havoc looked ready to cry. He probably had a date tonight.

"No, actually, I wanted to talk to you about Scar," Hughes continued after a brief pause. The change of subject brought more gravity to his voice. "How are things over there in East City?"

"Not great. We still haven't found him. Have you heard anything new?"

"No. No one has heard or seen anything. How are the Elric boys?"

"Armstrong hasn't brought them back from Risembool yet," Roy said. "But I'm sure they're fine."

"As fine as they can be. They were pretty shaken up after the whole Tucker incident and I'm sure their encounter with Scar didn't help."

"They're tougher than you think, Hughes. They've seen some horrible things at their young age. I can't even imagine what trying to perform human transmutation was like."

"Still. They're just kids. You could go a little easier on them."

"They deserve more respect than that."

"Maybe, but they were fond of the Tucker girl," Hughes said. "They're more upset than we are."

"Perhaps, but I can't shelter them too much. They chose to pursue alchemy and became dogs of the military. They will see worse things."

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. The image of Shou Tucker lying on the bloody floor next to what looked like a dog with a long mane hadn't fully left Roy's mind.

"How someone could do that to their _child…_ I just can't understand it," Hughes said. "It's…it's hard not to think of Elicia when I look at these crime scene photos."

Roy didn't want to admit how much the chimera made his insides twist. He'd met Nina only once, but it was hard even for him not to compare the girl to Elicia. It must have been particularly disquieting to Hughes.

"I'm sorry, Maes."

"And Edward's statement…I can't believe Tucker felt he could justify it in the name of scientific progress," Hughes said. "Transmuting a four-year-old girl and her dog together is just inhuman."

"Was it more inhuman than what we've done?"

Another pause.

"We were following orders, Roy," Hughes finally said. The last spark of the upbeat tone he'd begun the phone call with had seeped out of his voice. "We thought we were protecting Amestris."

Roy didn't respond. He remembered when he had first started to question his orders. At first, he'd been eager to join the battle. The Civil War had been going on for years and he'd believed the State Alchemists were only being sent in to end it quickly. Perhaps that was true. Less than a year after the extermination order, the State Alchemists had nearly wiped out the Ishvalan population. But none of the reasons his commanding officers gave him about why the Ishvalans were dangerous ever sat quite right with him. Still. Orders were orders. Besides, a lot of gunfire came from the buildings he set fire to.

Except once. He'd already snapped his fingers when he realized he'd seen a child's face at the window. He wondered how many other blackened piles of rubble had once held children.

"Call me at my house after you put Elicia to bed," Roy said. "You can talk about plans for her birthday then." As annoying as Hughes was when he gushed over his wife and daughter, Roy would rather listen to his friend talk about how much he loved them rather than think about Nina Tucker or how many other Ishvalan children may have died by the snap of his fingers.

"Will do. Oh, and Roy?"

"Hmm?"

"Be careful. We don't know where Scar is and I'm sure the Flame Alchemist is near the top of his hit list. He probably disagrees with your 'Hero of Ishval' title as much as you do."

"I'll be fine. I've got the Hawk's Eye looking out for me."

"I know. But if you noticed, even she couldn't land a kill shot. Don't do anything reckless."

"I could've killed him if it hadn't been raining."

"Your reputation has really gone to your head hasn't it? Maybe you should take a look at the list of victims again. Besides Tucker, none of those State Alchemists were exactly small potatoes. And you heard Armstrong: it took everything he had to stay alive."

"You think Armstrong's better in a fight than I am?"

Hughes sighed. "Please just be careful. If he's quick enough to dodge Riza's bullets, he can probably dodge your flames."

Roy doubted it, but he knew his friend's concern was sincere.

"Alright, Hughes. I'll be careful."

"Thank you. I don't want you to miss Elicia's birthday party because you're in the ground!" The over-the-top cheerfulness had returned.

"Goodbye, Hughes."

Roy hung up. He looked over at his subordinates' desk again and saw them look quickly back at their (well, _his_ ) paperwork. Riza stood up and handed him a document.

"This is the official request for Tucker's license to be rescinded," she said. "It just needs your signature and then you can send it off to Führer Bradley."

Roy skimmed over it briefly before signing beneath General Grumman's signature.

"Seems a bit pointless to take away his state license posthumously," he said, handing the paper back to Riza. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Please mail it immediately."

"Of course, sir."


End file.
